New Delhi, April 6, 2015: Haryana Environment and Forests Minister, Capt. Abhimanyu today urged the Central Government to approve the Perspective Plan of Shivalik Landscape amounting to Rs 247 crore for covering 206 villages of three districts namely Panchkula, Ambala and Yamunanagar. The State Government will shortly submit Perspective Plans for other two landscapes namely Aravalli Landscape and Plains Landscape.
He was addressing the Environment and Forest Ministers’ Conference at New Delhi today.
He said that the government has decided to launch a campaign namely “Har Ghar Hariyali” in the state during 2015-16. Under this campaign, “it is proposed to supply plants to each household in urban areas and to each individual or household in rural areas throughout the state. Emphasis will be given to indigenously grown plants and shrubs for plantation under this campaign. All the 48.57 lakh households are proposed to be covered under this campaign. The plants of various species to be supplied under this campaign are proposed to be charged at a nominal rate of Rs. 1 per plant. The plants will be supplied after site inspection of the pits dug by the individuals or households by the field staff and got verified from village Sarpanch or municipal councilor so as to ensure better survival of plantations proposed to be done under this campaign”.
As many as 11 districts of the state fall under the jurisdiction of National Capital Region. All urban areas in these districts are most affected from vehicular and industrial pollution. The state is putting all out efforts for taking up plantation activity in urban areas, extra funds are required for undertaking afforestation along roads, in parks and in blank areas in all 11 districts of the NCR.
The Minister said “The Forest Conservation Act, 1980 requires a certificate from Deputy Commissioner of the district under Forest Rights Act regarding the tribal population in the district. This causes inordinate delay in submission of such cases. As there is no tribal population in Haryana, the state may be exempted for submitting such certificate from the Deputy Commissioner”.
The Haryana Forest Department has laid thrust on carrying out plantations on common lands, institutional lands and especially on farm lands. Easy and sustained availability of large quantities of farm-grown wood played a major role in the development of Wood-Based Industries (WBIs) at Yamunanagar city in the state. This city has a biggest market of farm-grown wood in the country, where the arrival of wood from Haryana is only one third while two third arrivals are from adjoining states. At present, the wood production of the Haryana as well as of adjoining states has increased due to higher profitability of tree farming. Hence, the arrival of wood in market has also increased, while no new WBIs have come up after 2007. Due to the mismatch of demand and supply of farm-grown wood, its prices have declined in the last two years. To handle this scenario, new WBIs have to be set up in the state, he added.
He requested the Government of India to approach the Supreme Court for including net import of wood from adjoining states in assessing the availability of wood in the state which will help in establishing new or expansion of WBIs. The import of inferior quality timbers should be restricted. Export of surplus farm grown wood should be allowed. Import of wood from other states and abroad should be estimated bi-annually for each state by a CEC recognized agency. Forest Survey of India should publish estimate of availability of wood from TOF in various states in the bi-annual State of Forest Report.
He also requested Government of India to provide more funds for sustaining Elephant Rehabilitation Centre set up at Yamunanagar.
“There are two National Parks and Seven Wildlife Sanctuaries in the State. The notification of Eco-sensitive Zones of Sultanpur National Park has already been issued on January 27, 2010. The state Government has submitted the revised proposal of remaining Protected Areas to Government of India on May 20, 2013 but final notification is still awaited. Government of India is requested to do the needful at the earliest so that the development works of the state are not hampered any further”, the Minister added.
The Forests Minister said that the areas regulated under Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900 were mostly owned by individuals and communities. “These areas are recorded in Government records as ‘Forest’ and regulated accordingly. According to various Supreme court orders, these are ‘forests’ for the purpose of Forest Conservation Act. When the application for diversion of these forests lands are received under the FCA, it is insisted that equal non forest area should be transferred to Forest department and declared as forests under Indian Forest Act, 1927. The transfer of land in favour of forest department is not justified as no government forest land is being diverted in such cases. However the owner must create equal area under forest and maintain it as forest in its ownership. The Compensatory Afforestation (CA) amount should not be collected and owner must spend required funds and obtain certificate from Forest Department regarding compliance of FCA. In case, non-forest land is not available, double the area diverted should be afforested in degraded forests identified by the forest department and CA cost may be collected from the user agency”, he added. / (SK Vyas, Jalandhar)
Date:
Monday, April 6, 2015